


lobster americana

by bluecranes



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Red Lobster au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2019-12-13
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:16:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21774313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluecranes/pseuds/bluecranes
Summary: Mitsuki Izumi's family has run a Red Lobster restaurant in their little town for as long as he can remember. But with the popularity of the franchise declining and more hip and trendy restaurants popping up, how can they keep their restaurant afloat?
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	lobster americana

**Author's Note:**

> So, back in the summer, some friendly Twitter friends funded this fic. I've been working on it on and off but I'm glad I finally finished! It ended up getting a lot more lore heavy than I intended but hey! Red Lobster au deserves it.  
> This is a collection of moments in a Red Lobster between friends and foes. Mostly foes.

Mitsuki's family was full of hardworking people. His mother had gone to culinary school, and his father was a franchisee for a popular American chain, Red Lobster.

Growing up in a country where seafood was in abundance meant that a lot of the menu was fresh and caught daily. Mitsuki was in charge of making sure that the ingredients were up to par, and that each of the meals were made to perfection. Sometime last year, a foreign exchange student that was attending the local college was in search of some  _ authentic Japanese employment.  _

Mitsuki didn't have the heart to tell him that Red Lobster wasn't the most authentic Japanese restaurant but it didn't seem to matter much to Nagi. After all, the American aspect of it all only made it... _ multicultural,  _ he called it. The Northmarean wasn't naive, but was simply enamoured with Japanese culture. And if it meant he got to engage as a host in a Japanese Red Lobster, well… so be it.

Only a few months later did their small team grow. There was a handsome, slightly greasy but unexpectedly charming salary man who would often come to talk to Nagi and Mitsuki during their shifts. He had come in a couple times, always sitting in and only ordering beer to go with the bread. Mitsuki often asked him why he didn't just go to a bar or something, and the salaryman often just responded with something about the cheesy biscuits "hitting different." Whatever the hell that meant.

But after the man eventually lost his office job and came crawling to the Red Lobster with 10 yen to his name, Mitsuki offered him a job he couldn't refuse.

And now they were here.

It was closing time, and the 3 men were sitting at the bar having a few drinks before they wrapped up for the night. It had been slow once again, yet another one this week.

"What's up with the business around here recently? Seems like no one wants to come by these days…"

"Oh...perhaps it's because we need to beautify the place. With the help of, me of course and Magikona--"

"For the last time, we're not doing a Magikona collab café--" 

"But  _ MITSUKI…" _

"Don't  _ MITSUKI _ me, Nagi!" He said, chiding him with his own accent. The ginger haired man put his face in his hands, his entire body slumping with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"If I don't figure something out, my folks are gonna go out of business. And if we go out of business…"

He shook his head, his hair shrouding his face as he darkly laughed.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do. I'm not good at much else."

"Mitsu…"

"Sorry, sorry!" he lifted his head, putting a smile on the best he could. 

"You don't have to do this alone... we'll help you, every step of the way, okay?" Nagi wrapped his arm around Mitsuki, pulling him in and snuggling his face into his cheek. "You're strong, but even strong people need others to help them through life's difficulties."

"Oh? Since when did you let others help you through life's difficulties?" Yamato stared at Nagi, knowing the other boy was extremely secretive about his personal life beyond the bits and pieces he shared over the last year or so.

"Mitsuki...do you hear that? It sounds like a hypocritical glasses wearing insect…"

"Hey! Don't call me a bug!" 

Mitsuki couldn't help but let out a laugh. These two really were something else. 

"How about you bring out those leftover biscuits and we take them back to my place and watch some movies? I don't have much else to do."

"If you just wanted to finish our Magikona rewatch, all you had to do is say so…" 

Mitsuki pinched Nagi's cheek as Yamato went to the back to get the day's leftover biscuits. They deserved it.

(He wouldn't tell Mitsu he made a fresh batch at the end of the shift for this explicit purpose.)

* * *

"It's shrimp. Scampi. What the hell does this guy want? Fake shrimp? You can't just order the shrimp scampi but without the shrimp. That's not how this works." 

"I...I don't know. He just keeps...looking at me. Smiling. I think he's in love with you,  _ Yamato."  _ Nagi was the least disturbed in this situation, deciding that Yamato probably deserved it.

"If a guy asks for a shrimpless shrimp scampi he's probably a psychopath."

"Couldn't you just replace the shrimp with...I don't know. Imitation crab meat?" Mitsuki shrugged, before looking at the shocked and disgusted look on Yamato's face.

"I may have low standards Mitsu, but that is too. far."

"Then good luck telling tall, pale and vegan that he can't have his shrimpless scampi. Not it!"

_ "Not it!" _

"You guys are assholes…"

Yamato tightened the apron around his waist, swallowing as he walked over and watched the vegetarian nightmare size him up with an oddly chilling and handsome smile.

"You must be the chef?" Yuki smiled, his earring glinting as he tilted his head.

"And you must be the guy asking for a shrimpless shrimp scampi. Bottom line is, we don't have it."

"No boneless shrimp scampi?"

"No bonele--"

The giggling at the table by the man's dark haired meat guzzling companion made Yamato realized what the man had just  _ dared  _ to utter. But he wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

"All we have is boned scampi." 

Momo couldn't help but cackle at that, gripping onto Yuki's sleeve as Yamato and Yuki stared at each other from across the table. 

"Are you going to bone it yourself, then?"

With that Mitsuki dragged Yamato away, not wanting to see his chef lose his job over some Veggie Tales twink. 

* * *

"Tamaki-kun, I'm telling you, those aren't pets…"

"But Sou-chan you can't just tie animals up and leave them there! They can't even do their lobster thing!" He demonstrated said motion, opening his hand and closing it like a claw.

"That's because they're--"

" _ GREETINGS,  _ and welcome to Red Lobster. My dear customers, my name is Nagi and I'll be your host. A table for 2?"

"Yes, 2. Come on Tamaki-kun…"

"Sou-chan! The lobsters!"

However, despite his protests, it was impossible for Tamaki to do the rescuing he desperately wanted to do. At least for now.

Sougo sighed, ruffling his fingers through his hair before smiling a tight lipped expression at Tamaki, who couldn't stop staring at the lobster tank across the room.

"Tamaki-kun…"

But it was obvious that Tamaki wasn't listening anymore and had sights set on freeing the tanked creatures. 

"It's just such a sad life, don't you think Sou-chan? Lobsters are meant to be out in the wild, swimming around and doing lobster things with their friends."

Sougo didn't want to go through the trouble of explaining to Tamaki the barbecue they had the night before, or the various other creatures that had been on the end of his skewers.

"I mean, I get it. Sometimes we have to eat animals. But like. Looking at them in the tank like that, it makes me feel  _ extra _ bad for them. Like how can you just look at it alive and then dead on your plate! That's weird!"

"Oh, it sounds like a preschooler just discovered the food chain," a voice said from a booth over, and Tamaki growled immediately, turning around and staring at the offending voice.

"Eh?! Who the hell are you?!" 

Golden eyes appeared over the barrier, slender fingers wrapping around the edge as he pulled himself up to turn around and see Tamaki's face properly. 

"Oh just someone enjoying a nice,  _ juicy _ lobster that I handpicked and made sure they boiled while it was still alive and  _ screaming--"  _ The cruel man's lips curled around each word, his lizard-like expression lighting up with sadistic glee. The man's surrounding companions looked largely unamused, however their heads snapped to attention as a knife was driven into the wood paneling of the booth.

"Leave. Him.  _ Alone." _

Sougo's expression was menacing, and it was almost impressive how the other man barely flinched. Barely. He slid his hands away from the knife that dangerously struck between his fingers.

"So to introduce our menu, today our special soups are--  _ JESUS!"  _

"Sou-chan, you promised  _ no more violent silverware." _

"Oh, this isn't violent silverware. I was just making sure it was sharp enough." He pulled it from the wood, and Nagi stared in horror, his eyes going from the wood to the knife, back to Sougo's peaceful expression. 

"...Is it sharp enough?"

Nagi needed to know. After all, he had never checked for himself.

"It was, thank you for asking. Now how about those soups!"

_ "...Ryo-san you're so embarrassing." _

_ "Like shit! This is why we don't take you anywhere!" _

Nagi clasped his hands together, the perfect service smile gracing his face.

"I recommend the  _ clam chowder!" _

_ "Why do you guys think he makes us go to dinner with him? He has no friends." _

_ "The thought of Ryo-san having friends...I can't help but laugh." _

Nagi tossed a glance over his shoulder, making eye contact with the last voice to speak.

That was a mistake.

"Oh, is that really you Nagi? You're the last person I expected to see working a commoner job. Did your father finally cut you off?" A poisonous smile spread across his face as he sipped the remaining tea from his mug.

Nagi bit the inside of his cheek, however instead of refraining from commenting-- as Mitsuki would've advised him-- he turned fully to face his antagonizer. 

"I'm sorry Natsume-shi, did my  _ beauty _ disturb your outing with your new father? I didn't intend to get between a touching parent-child moment. Certainly it doesn't seem like  _ this _ daddy has taught you better manners than your last one."

The clatter of silverware was a sure signal to everyone in the immediate vicinity that the tension in the air had snapped.

As Mitsuki glanced over and noticed the two blondes engaging in what appeared to be a polite but seething back and forth, he sighed, wrapping his apron around his waist.

This was going to be a long shift, wasn't it?

However as Nagi turned away and brushed past Mitsuki swiftly, he knew he was going to have to diffuse the situation, whatever that  _ situation _ was. Nagi wasn't one to argue with customers,  _ ever.  _ He was a people pleaser and would rather make others smile if he could help it. That's what made him such a wonderful host. 

"I'm sorry, is there something I can help you guys with?"

The young blonde at the table was silent but clearly embarrassed at whatever had transpired. The youngest one spoke up finally after the awkward silence.

"Can you just give Ryo-san the check so I can be free of the most embarrassing 'family dinner' known to man? Thanks." He frowned, sitting back in the booth and going back to playing on his gaming console.

"Yeah. I'll uh. Get that to you." 

"And can you give that host this tip? Take it as an apology. From all of us." The shaggy brown haired one offered, sliding Mitsuki a somewhat weighty envelope. His smile seemed genuine enough.

"Sure! I'm sure he'll appreciate it."

Mitsuki turned and gestured to another server to finish taking care of the table and walked to the back, searching for his friend.

"Nagi? Hey, what's going on?" He found Yamato and Nagi tucked in the back corner, talking in hushed tones.

"Ah! Mitsuki...it's nothing but a bad customer experience. I won't let it happen again."

Yamato gave Nagi a pointed look but didn't say anything further, returning to his spot in the kitchen.

"Next time, onii-san will handle them. I'll just tell them to get the fuck out."

Those were pretty strong words, but with the red at the edge of Nagi's eyes, he knew that there was more than just a "bad customer experience." He wouldn't push Nagi too much, but he did take his hand in his own, squeezing it. 

"Hey. Take 30. Get some food, get some fresh air. Whatever you need." Nagi was hesitant at first, but eventually nodded his head and squeezed back, letting Mitsuki's hand go.

"And...the one guy with the brown hair left you a tip, but I haven't opened it. Do you want it?"

Nagi's expression said that he would rather die than touch the envelope, so Mitsuki pocketed it and gave him a smile. 

"Go! Take your break, Nagi! I'll hold down the fort for you while you're gone."

He hoped he wouldn't get into a fight outside of the restaurant, but Nagi had a good head on his shoulders. They could talk later.

Mitsuki took the envelope out once again and opened it, his eyes widening at the sheer amount of money in it….And the bold note with a number scribbled crudely on it.

_ "Never seen Minami so speechless before. With a mouth like that, I wonder what else you can do. Call me sometime? Won't bring the Rugrats with me. -Torao" _

Mitsuki's ears went hot and he immediately closed the note, taking the tips out and putting it into the team tip jar. 

_ Minami huh... _

Mitsuki had a lot to learn about Nagi.

"I'm telling you sir! You can not take live lobsters in a to go container!"

And he had a lot to learn about keeping this restaurant going if he really wanted it to survive.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! If you wanna know more, chat me up on Twitter, @flyhinata! Special thank you to the backers of this project, I hope it lived up to your expectations.


End file.
